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The KAR GT prototype. The electric vehicle has much of its development work done but no manufacturing partner yet.

Last time we saw the KAR electric vehicle it was just a drawing at KleenSpeed Technologies, a startup that had rented r&d space at the NASA Ames Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif. Now the KAR is off the drawing board and on the streets. The prototype seen here was cruising around Mountain View, Calif., in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

The KAR body is a Chinese-sourced vehicle optimized by KleenSpeed for EV duty. Production plans are still in the early stages. It could come in either two-seater or 2+2 configuration with room for up to 40 kWh of batteries, the latter which would give it a claimed 150-mile range.

KleenSpeed does not have a manufacturing partner but is floating the design in hopes of a corporate hookup. KleenSpeed also developed and is just a little more proud of the GenESSys Energy Storage System and Smart Battery which is also available to a corporate partner interested in licensing the technology. You can see both at the San Francisco auto show Nov. 22-26.

Kleenspeed has said that an entry-level KAR S could sell for less than $10,000, with the battery leased separately for $175 a month. The entry-level model would come with a stock suspension. The sportier GT could retail for just under $14,000 and sport a KleenSpeed subframe and suspension for more spirited performance.

Mark Vaughn
- After slumming in Europe five years covering F1 etc. Mark Vaughn interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show has been with us ever since because no one else will take him. Anyone?
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